There are certain moments in life when one has to make some very difficult decisions; decisions that may make or break one’s dream, alter the course of one’s life and possibly other’s too. Dilemmas, in their ever-annoying form, shake the confidence of even God when confronted with situations from which there is no pre-defined escape route. It is then that one is compelled to choose one among the two paths in front; one, that is easy, convenient to follow as one knows the way, but certainly will not take one to one's goal, and there is one that is difficult, unknown, unexplored, yet will provide one immense happiness if it takes one to one's desired destination. Moments like these make life what it is – an unpredictable, unseen, exciting adventure.
What is it that makes dilemmas an annoying, nerve-wrecking experience when the choice before one seems to be so obvious as to merit immediate attention and not result in any hesitation at all? Ironic it is! Fear, in one of its innumerable forms, takes its toll here too. Human Being has always sought convenience. The undying hunger for increasing convenience propels the mankind toward creating and identifying new methods to achieve his or her ambitions. Convenience could be material, emotional or physical. Fear of losing it is overwhelming enough to make one stop and re-think the path that one has chosen to follow. What is it then that gives people the courage to take the plunge and set about on the unexplored path that is so conveniently left, well unexplored? What has made people over the centuries to brave the current and swim in the other direction? The answer to that lies the in golden gift from God to mankind – Love. It is the dream of attaining the immeasurable happiness at the end of the ordeal of the unexplored path that propels one towards it.
However, following the other path does not always guarantee paradise. This is where the gamble of life comes into play and this is where one has to take one’s chances if one has any intentions of winning anything out of it. One may end up on the losing side but then unless one tries one may never ever be able to attain something that one so desperately desired.
In our lives, there are a few moments when one experiences a strong sense of love, desire and passion for someone when one dreams about a wonderful future with the other pictured in it. There arises a feeling of an ever-lasting relationship with one’s beloved; a relation of love, caring, belonging, trusts etc. It is truly amazing how the beauty of one, physical or otherwise, enchants the other to such an extent. While there is one school of thought that seems to attribute this to Fate, there is another that discards this idea of a super-natural role in our lives. According to the latter, love arises out of acquaintances, of the close nature, when one spends an adequate amount of time with the other to understand and appreciate him/her. To some, seeds of love are borne in a friendship.But is falling in love, in the shroud of friendship, justified? Is it not cheating on one’s trust? One who trusted you with all that a friendship demands suddenly faces a question that requires one to discard all the notions and trust that one had built around you and start afresh, only this time with an added ingredient of intimacy. Seems far-fetched, and justifiably so. This is where the fear makes its unwanted appearance. A relation that was convenient to all, where everyone was happy with the course of things, had to be jeopardized for one person’s desire of that extra love. One fears the loss of a friend for want of the intimacy that one has so desperately wanted over a period of time and that one desires to receive from the other person. And that is when the seeds of doubt are sown and a dilemma is born.
The obvious convenient path would be to compromise oneself with the existing situations and tread upon the known and tested path. The other, of course, would be to follow the unknown and wait for the outcome. If it is success, the joy has no bounds. If it is not, then one has to find new ways to achieve it. Upon what theory then should our efforts be based? What would ensure success in situations as these where the probability of a loss, which would be colossal, is much more than the success which would of course be unimaginable? The answer to that again lies in the words of wise men – Honesty is the best policy. A person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear. So long as men have practiced honesty in their efforts and intentions, they have had none to fear, not even God. A voluntary disclosure of one’s love for other as and when it happens is the only way the sanctity of friendship as well as the purity of love can be maintained regardless of the nature of the outcome. A pure mind with a pure heart is blessed by God’s love and all that one requires to do is keep the faith.
